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Latest rumor: iPad 2 won't feature Retina Display

Speculation that the iPad 2 may have a Retina Display may not be accurate, according to an Apple watcher who claims the next iPad will keep its current resolution.

Jim Dalrymple Special to CNET News
Jim Dalrymple has followed Apple and the Mac industry for the last 15 years, first as part of MacCentral and then in various positions at Macworld. Jim also writes about the professional audio market, examining the best ways to record music using a Macintosh. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. He currently runs The Loop.
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Jim Dalrymple
2 min read

One of the most persistent rumors about Apple's next-generation iPad is that it will sport a super high-resolution display, or what Apple calls a Retina Display.

However, Apple watcher John Gruber is refuting such claims and asserting that the iPad 2 will not have the Retina Display.

The iPad Apple

A number of sites have reported finding higher resolution graphics in recent builds of Apple's iOS, available on the company's site for developers. The graphics would seem to indicate that Apple is doubling its current iPad display resolution of 1,024x768 pixels to 2,048x1,536 pixels.

However, the well-sourced Gruber says that is not happening. "I asked around, and according to my sources, it is too good to be true: the iPad 2 does not have a Retina Display. I believe the iPad 2's display will remain at 1024×768."

Engadget recently reported that the iPad 2 "will sport a new screen technology that is akin to (though not the same as) the iPhone 4's Retina Display and will be super high resolution."

Although Engadget doesn't claim that the iPad will double the display resolution and does claim that Apple may use some other means to achieve a "super high resolution," Gruber remains unconvinced.

"Maybe it uses the new manufacturing technique Apple introduced with the iPhone 4 display, which brings the LCD closer to the surface of the touchscreen glass--making it look more like pixels on glass rather than pixels under glass," Gruber said. "But my sources are pretty sure that it's not 2048×1536 or any other 'super high resolution.'"

The fact that Apple would try to improve the display of the iPad 2 seems like a given. That is what Apple does when it releases new products, and the company made a big deal about the Retina Display in the iPhone 4, so that is clearly a focus.

But whether the next iPad will feature any sort of super high-resolution display remains to be seen, so to speak.